Biden’s mass pardons, clemency orders demonstrate need for reform

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Last week, President Joe Biden commuted the sentence of a former Pennsylvania judge at the center of the notorious “kids-for-cash” scandal. He was convicted in 2011 of funneling juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for more than $2 million in kickbacks and was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.

The White House also granted clemency to a former Illinois lawyer who was convicted of overseeing fraudulent tax shelters that cost the government more than $1.6 billion. He had been sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2014. A Duluth man who had been found guilty in 2013 of 51 felony counts for selling synthetic drugs from his store received a 17½-year sentence. That time will be cut short as well due to the White House action.

And the highest profile decision of the bunch was the president’s pardon of his own son, Hunter Biden. After vowing several times that he would not set aside illegal gun possession and tax convictions against his son, Biden pardoned him anyway.

Those are among the more egregious of the just over 1,500 pardons and clemency orders that President Joe Biden granted last week. And it’s those kinds of questionable decisions that validate Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s call for presidential pardon reform. A pardon relieves a person of guilt and punishment while commuting a sentence reduces or eliminates the punishment but doesn’t clear the person completely of the wrongdoing.

Klobuchar rightly chastised her fellow Democrat for making so many of these decisions in broad sweeping fashion instead of reviewing the individual situations. She said she “didn’t agree” with the pardon given to Hunter Biden and other pardons meted out by President Biden. But pardon objection isn’t new territory for Klobuchar. She also took issue with some of the pardons issued by President-elect Donald Trump at the end of his first term.

She believes an overhaul of the presidential pardons process is needed.

“While the pardon ability is part of our Constitution, we’re not going to change that … That’s been going on a long time, but we should have some kind of an outside board that governors have,” said Klobuchar.

“Governors have the ability to give mercy to people after years have gone by, but a lot of them have boards that make recommendations … instead of people just doing it in the middle of the night … This makes no sense to me.”

Klobuchar said Congress could create a vetting process similar to what some states have. Or, perhaps, a sitting president could voluntarily create a process vetted by the department of justice — a process that would be more transparent and would provide explanations in pardon and clemency cases.

Included in Biden’s record high, single-day act of pardons and clemency were cases that were more deserving and, at face value, legitimate. Biden granted a pardon to Kelsie Lynn Becklin, 38, a New Brighton researcher who pleaded guilty to a nonviolent offense at age 21, then successfully served her sentence and recently completed a Ph.D. program. In addition, she mentors previously incarcerated individuals who also seek to pursue higher education and serves as an active volunteer in her community.

A 49-year-old Coon Rapids woman and a Minneapolis woman, 51, were both granted pardons after committing nonviolent crimes years ago. Those three Minnesotans made a compelling case for a presidential pardon.

But some of the other pardons, such as those cited above, are highly questionable and beg the question of whether an overhaul of the of the system is needed. As Klobuchar suggests, Congress should consider creating a commission or board to monitor and advise the process, much in the same way a majority of states handle the granting of mercy to deserving offenders.

Klobuchar notes that the constitution grants authority to the president to offer pardons. Still, that authority could be broadened to include more input to the process. In Minnesota for example, the governor, attorney general and supreme court chief justice make up the Board of Pardons. To receive a pardon, the governor and at least one other member of the board must vote in favor of clemency. Eligibility requirements are outlined in state law.

Clemency procedures vary from state to state but only about 15 states grant sole authority to the governor, according to the ACLU and the National Governors Association.

Klobuchar is right: Change is needed. Biden’s exit stage left is making that reality exceedingly clear. Congress should follow up on concerns now being raised about presidential pardons and commutations to improve the system for extending mercy and parceling get out of jail free cards.